Christopher and Jinshil Duquet with their two girls, Sehwa Kim, seven months and Emilie Duquet, 10, in their home in Evanston, Thursday Jan. 10, 2013. (Abel Uribe, Chicago Tribune)

An Evanston couple fighting to keep a baby they brought home from South Korea will be allowed to keep the child at least until Monday afternoon, when the family returns to federal court.

U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur said Friday morning that he would wait until Monday to rule on whether the child should be handed over to U.S. officials for possible eventual return to South Korea.

The judge said he wanted to wait to see how a Cook County judge would respond to a new court filing by the Evanston couple, Jinshil and Christopher Duquet, to try to formally adopt the child.

Both U.S. and Korean government officials reiterated in court Friday that they want the child removed from the Duquets’ custody as soon as possible. U.S. officials said they want the 7-month-old girl, Sehwa, removed from the Duquets’ custody while her immigration status is being sorted out.

But Korean authorities want her returned to Korea, saying the couple failed to go through proper protocols when the child was removed from the country shortly after her birth last summer.

“We believe the child’s best interest is for the child to be taken to Korea, from where she was taken improperly,” said Donald Schiller, an attorney represented the Korean government.

Though the federal judge gave a brief reprieve, he indicated he wants to resolve the matter quickly.

“What are we playing with, some kind of toy? We are dealing with a human being. … I have to keep my eye on the real ball, which is the … interests of the child,” Shadur said.

On Friday afternoon, Circuit Court Judge John Callahan Jr. in a separate hearing agreed to allow the Duquets to keep the baby until Monday, but denied their request that he extend a temporary guardianship order until Thursday. That is the day that the Duquets plan to appear before yet another Circuit Court judge regarding their latest filing to adopt the baby.

“It’s clear in my mind that this is a federal immigration issue,” Callahan said.

He added that he is concerned for the welfare of Sehwa, who has been assigned a guardian ad litem, or advocate, by the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement.

The advocate, Maria Woltjen, told the judge she would oppose seeing the child moved into a temporary foster home, saying it would be traumatic for Sehwa to move more than once.

After Callahan’s ruling, a frustrated Christopher Duquet remained hopeful that South Korean officials would work out a settlement.

“We are trying to make everything right with the legal system in Korea as we speak,” he said. “For this to become a political football is wrong. It’s so wrong.”